Pardons sought for the remaining defendants in Scottsboro Boys case

This is a photograph of the Scottsboro Boys being guarded by the National Guard shortly after their arrest in Scottsboro. (Courtesy of the Scottsboro Boys Museum. Michael Mercier.)

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- The founder of a museum devoted to the Scottsboro Boys wants to give the defendants in the landmark case something that eluded most of them during their lifetimes: a pardon from the state of Alabama.

Sheila Washington, founder of the Scottsboro Boys Museum and Cultural Center, this week asked Gov. Robert Bentley to clear the names of eight of the nine defendants wrongly convicted of raping two white women in 1931. "They were done wrong, and justice should be corrected," Washington said.

One of the Scottsboro Boys was pardoned in 1976. Clarence Norris was believed at the time to be the only defendant still living. He, too, has since died.

Washington said she believes the state needs to set the record straight for the other defendants, even though charges were ultimately dropped against some of them while they were alive. "I feel like this is the closure," she said.

Her quest has won support from professors, lawyers and legislators. Her letter to Bentley, dated Aug. 15, is co-signed by more than a dozen people, most of them affiliated with universities.

"A resolution of pardon will provide a chance to affirm our mutual interests in supporting justice and equality in twenty-first century Alabama," the letter says. "The resolution does not change the past, but it can help shape the future."

Bentley absolutely agrees the pardons are merited, said his spokesman, Jeremy King. "It's time to right this wrong," King said. "It's time to officially clear their names."

But King said the governor believes he lacks the authority to act on Washington's request.

"The Alabama Constitution only gives the governor the power to grant reprieves and commutations for death sentences," King said. "In the final trials of the Scottsboro Boys, only one was sentenced to death. That man was pardoned in 1976 while he was still alive. From a legal standpoint, the governor has no authority to grant pardons to the other men."

Bentley's office is "exploring some methods that would allow a process for posthumous pardons" and will support efforts to make it happen, King said.

In 2006, the state passed legislation that provided a way for people arrested during the Jim Crow era to get pardons for violating segregation laws. The Rosa Parks Act allowed those arrested in civil rights protests to clear their records. Families were allowed to petition for pardons of loved ones who had died.

If a similar proposal were drafted for the Scottsboro Boys case, Bentley would be supportive, King said.

State Rep. Alvin Holmes said he believes Bentley has the authority and should issue the pardons. "It's important to history. It's important to the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of those defendants," Holmes said. "It was an injustice what the state of Alabama did to them."

Holmes, who was involved in the push to get Norris a pardon and was on hand to see it happen, said he will introduce legislation if necessary to clear the names of Olen Montgomery, Haywood Patterson, Ozie Powell, Willie Roberson, Charlie Weems, Eugene Williams, and brothers Andy Wright and Roy Wright.

Some of Alabama's prominent criminal defense lawyers also are joining the effort to get official vindication for the remaining Scottsboro Boys, and the Alabama Criminal Defense Lawyers Association has passed a resolution supporting the effort.

"It's never too late to correct an injustice," said Birmingham lawyer Richard Jaffe, who called the Scottsboro Boys case "a dark blemish on the state of Alabama."

"It's the closest thing I know to a real-life 'To Kill a Mockingbird,' times nine," Jaffe said. "I cannot imagine the state of Alabama not wanting to right a wrong and correct what is obviously a horrific injustice."

Decatur lawyer John Mays, who helped enlist the defense lawyers association's support, said he also hopes the Morgan County Republican Executive Committee, on which he serves, will urge the governor to act.

"If you have mistreated somebody, even if they're dead, honor and decency requires you to stand up and say 'we're sorry,'" Mays said. "We're going to complain about this until we get a pardon. The Scottsboro Boys did not get a fair day in court. ... It needs to be made right."

The nine young men were accused of rape after hitching a fateful ride on a freight train traveling from Tennessee through north Alabama. White boys also riding the train hopped off and reported they had been attacked by a group of blacks. A deputized posse stopped the train at Paint Rock, arrested the black teenagers and also found two white women who'd been on the train and who accused the boys of rape.

The first trial in Scottsboro lasted four days, and all but one of the young defendants were sentenced to death. But the case became a cause for the American Communist Party, which pursued legal challenges that resulted in successful appeals and retrials. A number of witnesses, including one of the victims, later recanted their stories.

The case ultimately spawned two landmark U.S. Supreme Court decisions, one saying criminal defendants are entitled to effective counsel and another saying blacks could not be systematically excluded from criminal juries. In the end, charges against five of the defendants were dropped, and others were paroled without being put to death. The case sparks tremendous interest.

Norris, who fled Alabama while on parole, was initially refused a pardon because the state considered him a fugitive. But with pressure from then-Attorney General Bill Baxley, the state Board of Pardons and Paroles eventually granted the pardon, and it was signed by then-Gov. George Wallace. At the time, there was some talk of pursuing pardons for the other Scottsboro Boys defendants, but nothing materialized.

In recent months, Washington decided to resurrect the effort, initially approaching the Board of Pardons and Paroles. She was told her request was impossible.

"We don't grant pardons posthumously," said Greg Griffin, the agency's top lawyer. "We don't have the authority to do it."

Among other things, Griffin expressed concern about triggering a flood of petitions for posthumous pardons and said his office is already behind on processing requests from living defendants who want pardons to have their rights restored.

"We're working on 2009 pardon cases now. We're three years behind," he said.

Washington turned her efforts to Bentley, asking for a pardon even though she believes the term doesn't go far enough. "When you're pardoned, that means you did something wrong," she said. "I prefer the word exonerate."

Washington believes that Alabama -- which in recent months has been back in the national spotlight for a harsh immigration bill -- has much to gain in taking action. "I think it will shine a light on Alabama that what was done wrong, there's hope that it can be corrected," she said. "This is the time now to make it right."